Plastic may become your future password solution.
In a groundbreaking discovery, scientists have developed a method to log into a computer using a synthetic molecule. This innovative technology, known as synthetic molecule password storage, encodes data in the structure of chemically synthesized molecules, offering a pathway to highly dense, stable, and energy-efficient long-term data storage.
The research team, led by scientists at the University of Texas at Austin, designed molecules containing sequences of electrochemical information. These molecules have four unique monomers, each with distinct electrochemical properties, forming a 256-character alphabet. An 11-character password ('Dh&@dR%P0W¢') was created by chaining together the monomers.
The researchers developed a novel method to read electrochemical signals from the chain-like polymers. Once the polymers are broken down, they can't reform automatically, limiting the message to a single read. However, the polymers can be sequentially broken down, one monomer at a time, to decode the stored information.
This technology could potentially meet the growing demand for energy-efficient long-term data storage. One key advantage is its high density and stability. Molecular-level encoding can achieve extremely high data densities surpassing traditional electronic media because molecules are nanoscale storage units. Many synthetic molecules are chemically stable under ambient or moderate conditions, enabling durable data retention without electrical power once synthesized.
Another advantage is its low energy consumption. Unlike electronic data storage devices requiring continuous power for maintenance, molecular data remains stable chemically, needing energy input only during the writing (synthesis) or reading (chemical or spectroscopic analysis) phases, making it highly energy-efficient over long timeframes.
The technology also offers increased security. Encoding passwords or encryption keys in unique synthetic molecular structures makes them difficult to duplicate or intercept without specialized chemical analysis. Additionally, recent advances in machine learning for molecule representation and chemical synthesis automation improve the scalability and accuracy of designing synthetic molecules for data storage, supporting wider adoption in long-term archival storage, secure authentication, and cryptographic applications.
Professor Eric Anslyn, a chemistry professor at the University of Texas at Austin, stated that the approach opens exciting prospects for interfacing chemical encoding with modern electronic systems and devices. The team's research was published in the journal Chem.
However, the decoding process is currently slow, taking about 2.5 hours for an 11-character password. Researchers are working to speed up this process and integrate the technology with computer chips to further enhance its practicality and applicability.
This synthetic molecule password storage technology represents a significant step forward in the field of data storage, offering a promising solution for energy-efficient, long-term data storage with applications in secure authentication and archival memory.
- The synthetic molecule password storage, as elucidated by the research team led by scientists at the University of Texas at Austin, utilizes molecules with specific electrochemical properties to encode data, such as an 11-character password ('Dh&@dR%P0W¢'), forming a unique alphabet.
- The technology's energy-efficient nature is one of its key advantages, as molecular data remains stable chemically, requiring energy only during the writing (synthesis) or reading (chemical or spectroscopic analysis) phases, making it highly energy-efficient over long timeframes.
- Another advantage of this technology is the enhanced security it offers, as the encodement of passwords or encryption keys in unique synthetic molecular structures makes them difficult to duplicate or intercept without specialized chemical analysis, particularly in the promising field of secure authentication.
